Friday night, I’m finally done with my work assignment in Sacramento so I pack and go; objective: the city of the 49ers. I want to try to get there before sunset to snap a few pictures of the sun setting on the pacific before enjoying SF by night. It’s around 30C in Sacramento but I now know that SF is a meteorological abnormality. It’s only 1h30 away by car but my phone tells me the temperature is down to 15C when I reach the bay area. I’m on schedule for once but upon arrival, I can only witness SF being overrun by clouds. They climb from the pacific and fall down into the bay. I won’t get my pictures of the sun setting on the Pacific tonight clearly but thinking quickly I come up with a backup plan.
Post Mortem
Bear box
When you stay in the park, you don’t keep food with you at night because you’re not the only one who likes food. Squirrels like food but they are not the threat. They could be if they were to organize in gangs but it’s free for all in the squirrel world. The problem is the bear. But every problem has its solution. To avoid a nightly visit of a hungry bear at night (even though a bear could definitely keep you warm at night) or to avoid having your car open like a can, there’s that thing called “the bear box”.
Marathon
Preps
I wake up at dawn (according to my criteria’s) and am on my way to the valley south of mine. It’s an hour away since I don’t have a flying car. Today I want to first take the Mist Trail then the Panorama Trail then the 4-Miles Trail. I’ll then have to walk back to the car. From what I saw on the map it should be 25-26km with 2000m of difference in height. Clearly it won’t be easy but I’ve got a healthy mix of optimism and madness so I don’t see that as a problem. For that hike, I reorganize my camera bag to fit a big water bottle and some cereal snacks on top of my second lens. My camera is around my neck, ready to shoot!
Yosemite
Even though I’m based in New York, for work reasons, I’m spending 2 weeks in Sacramento California. Planning on taking advantage of this, I have in mind to visit the famous Yosemite National Park over the weekend. Riding my faithful red ride (rental car) and equipped with my prehistorical GPS, I’m heading to the park. It’s 3h30 to 4h away with only a small part on the highway. The speed limit is only 65mph on the highway anyway so it’s super boring it’s going to take a while no matter what